Ported Iron Head Flow - Good or Bad?

[Nick Micale]

For over 20 years I have been dealing with modified iron, stock turbo heads to optimize air flow and performance.

I have seen many flow sheets and numbers from around the country, and there is a large disparity of the numerical data so it begs the question to determine "what are good flow numbers for iron heads"?

Since my project of having the TA alum head porting CNC is now done, I moved on to determine the "best" iron head porting and still have it affordable.

My baseline is a fresh Champion iron head which is considered a benchmark for iron head performance in the turbo Buick world, and is considered max flow for an affordable iron head.

My plan was to bring the Champion head and a stock head to a good friend of mine that owns an engine auto machine shop, and is really an expert in performance head work of all brands.

I asked him to replicate the Champion head and provide me with flow numbers on each. The valves are the same in each head, the flow machine, adapters, operator, temperature were all the same and testing on both were done within the same hour so we could eliminate as many variables as possible.

Here is the results:

Champion Head:

intake exhaust
300 cfm 164 139
400 cfm 185 148
500 cfm 179 148
600 cfm 179 154
Max 185 154

AZGN Head:

300 cfm 166 145
400 cfm 176 148
500 cfm 179 154
600 cfm 182 154
Max 185 154


The cfm at .400" number on the Champion head is not a typo, but a disturbance in the passage air flow?

More details on our heads will be available shortly on my web site, and shipping for these heads will commence in about a week.

 

[achalmersman]

Awesome info. Can you post comparitive data on your CNC TA aluminum heads?

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[Bescurred]

Nick, Awesome work man! This is Larry if ya don't remember. Can't wait to get my motor back together!!!

 

[Bescurred]

Nick, Awesome work man! This is Larry if ya don't remember. Can't wait to get my motor back together!!!

 

[nat86]

Very interested in seeing the flow chart for the TA ported cnc aluminum heads that your putting on my ta engine Nick [emoji6]

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[Mike T]

Like you said Nick.....there's a lot of numbers going around.....good to see them all starting to merge. Your numbers reflect what turboelky has posted as well.
The 185 cfm seems to be about it on the better than average iron. The 200 cfm + numbers you see from time to time must be highly modified heads.

I see a few things that may get you at or beyond 200 but I feel as if the heads wouldn't last long....IE run 20,000 street miles without burning valves or wearing out the guides.

BTW great new product Nick.

 

[Steve V]

Good to have another option and I bet yours will be more readily available.

 

[robzombie]

More details on our heads will be available shortly on my web site, and shipping for these heads will commence in about a week.

Do you have a price set yet?

 

[SS/GN]

Thanks Nick, as always your a class act and do so much for these old cars.

 

[Nick Micale]

Like you said Nick.....there's a lot of numbers going around.....good to see them all starting to merge. Your numbers reflect what turboelky has posted as well.
The 185 cfm seems to be about it on the better than average iron. The 200 cfm + numbers you see from time to time must be highly modified heads.........

I have flow sheets from 2000-2001 on max ported iron heads with 1.77" intake valves at .500" lift with flow numbers from 195 to 212 CFM, and those old flow machines are no longer in use?

The point here is head flow numbers are relative to a specific machine and operator, and are not an absolute number.

The flow number above I listed for .500" lift is 179 CFM. I had the same person flow a set of well ported iron heads at his old shop in 2011, 100+ deg weather, different machine, and the flow was 212 CFM at .500"?

The first sets will be finished next week, and the price will be available then.

The heads will have all new performance valves of course, bronze guides, springs and retainers set up for a hydraulic roller cam, and pedestals machined for roller rockers.

 

[Wahoo]

Subscribed

 

[TexasT]

Will you be doing big valves for use in 4.1 bores?

 

[Nick Micale]

Will you be doing big valves for use in 4.1 bores?

The max size for an intake valve in an iron head is 1.77" unless the guide is offset, and that is not economically feasible.

You want lots of airflow for a 4.1, step up to the TA alum heads that I have CNC ported with 1.94" valves and 260+ CFM.

My production 4.1 stroker with the CNC alum heads will run 9.97 @ 136 MPH at 16 psi and 70mm turbo!

 

[TexasT]

Street car, not really up for aluminum heads. Those 1.77 would probably be fine.

Great you are supporting the community with new products.

 

[Boost231]

My 2 "street" cars have aluminum heads.

 

[robzombie]

My 2 "street" cars have aluminum heads.

Then you wouldn't mind parting with a set right?

Pretend I'm BIG O and I'm gonna take from the top 1% and give to the poor.

I'll be waiting for them to arrive [POOR] Rob Zombie.

 

[TURBOELKY]

Hey Nick! Thanks for posting numbers. So it looks like my numbers are pretty much on the money.

 

[nat86]

Damn that TA block with those heads your building me should do just fine

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[Boost231]

His CNC heads are a work of art.

 

[robzombie]

Are you saying he does additional port work above what champion offers??